Don is such an unfathomable cretin. He acted the same way towards Betty when Roger came to the house for dinner and flirter with her all night. He made snide accusations to Betty all week when he's the one fucking around, per usual.

I've always cringed at what a jerk he can be, but every once in a while he outdoes himself. He's no better than Pete. He's just in a prettier, slicker package. Hell, not even Pete would pull the jealousy routine with Trudy when he doesn't love her.

It's awesome that Peggy stole the account away from him. Poor Joan, but it was inevitable that the way she got partnership would come back to haunt her. The shame of it is she deserves it for her intelligence, but she'll always be accused of taking the easy way when it's been anything but for her.

You're right. I have to watch by "other means" and my computer was having a bit of sound trouble with that particular scene. Stan's middle finger was hard to miss. Ouch.

Still, Sylvia saying she'd "pray for Don" made me want to heave. Oh Sylvia, if you got him he'd cease wanting you after a couple of months, too. A guy can only be "tortured" and angst ridden for so long before he becomes an incurable douchebag. Rachel was the only smart woman when it came to Don. She saw him for what he was before it was too late.

So now SCDP is out of the smaller accounts, too, because whatshisname won't even give them 90 days? Ouch. I eagerly await the day when Peggy's firm does steal an account from Don outright.

Great episode. The season premiere is now forgiven. This episode mostly focused on the workplace and what little wasn't was the result of the workplace.

Nice to see Bert's office. Very cutting edge for 1968.

I like that Harry has become more assertive because as he's said, he's earned it. The Harry of the old days of Sterling Cooper never would've taken this much initiative.

It's about time we got to see more about Dawn.

I did like CGC's pitch for Ketchup better than SCDP's. And now Don is a total hypocrite at work too. So much for loyalty to Heinz Beans.

I really, really, really want Don to get caught cheating with Sylvia. Megan needs to put that two-faced hypocrite who can't get his mind out of the whorehouse in his place.

It's been mentioned that Mad Men is about Don but this season he's my least favorite main character as well as the one I'm least interested in. Any progress he made during the fourth and fifth seasons is gone. And I know that's the point. He can't change his stripes, even though he once changed his name. When the only way Don can look good is if he's going against Herb, that's pretty bad.

Don continues to identify ways in which to sink ever further down the food chain. Not only does he show up at Megan's job and have the nerve to get mad at her for doing it, he confronts her and makes her feel guilty about faking doing what he actually is doing in real life -- to her. He has officially become the stuff upon which pond scum lies.

I don't know why, but the doctor for some reason, strikes me as the type who might resort to violence if he finds out about Don and his wife. I am not looking forward to seeing what happens when Megan finds out, though maybe she won't find out about this one.

So Don is against the war. I guess this is because of his experience in Korea. But back in the 60's, even vets were mostly for the war so this seems a bit unusual for Don. It also places him in bed (so to speak) with a gaggle of folk he would not like to be seen with publicly. The characeter has evolved at least in some areas, so perhaps this is a continuation of his journey.

I couldn't believe Joan made out with the dweeb at the club. Who was her (girl) friend? I don't remember her.

I loved (bearded creative dude) giving Peggy the finger in the coffee shop. Peggy sitting there with that grin plastered on her face -- funny.

I was confused by who got the account, also.When Ken(?) said "bought it in the room" or whatever, I thought it was his company. But then he and Peggy weren't acting like they were happy.

So Don is against the war. I guess this is because of his experience in Korea. But back in the 60's, even vets were mostly for the war so this seems a bit unusual for Don. It also places him in bed (so to speak) with a gaggle of folk he would not like to be seen with publicly. The characeter has evolved at least in some areas, so perhaps this is a continuation of his journey.

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By January-February 1968 and the Tet Offensive majorities had firmed up the view that the decision to enter the war had been "a mistake."**it's a big part of the reason that LBJ didn't run for reelection that year.

So Don is against the war. I guess this is because of his experience in Korea. But back in the 60's, even vets were mostly for the war so this seems a bit unusual for Don. It also places him in bed (so to speak) with a gaggle of folk he would not like to be seen with publicly. The characeter has evolved at least in some areas, so perhaps this is a continuation of his journey.

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By January-February 1968 and the Tet Offensive majorities had firmed up the view that the decision to enter the war had been "a mistake."**it's a big part of the reason that LBJ didn't run for reelection that year.

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Well yeah, but I'm not sure we are being told that Don is against the war because of conclusions drawn after the Tet Offensive. I think we're going to hear more about the war as 1968 progesses so perhaps we'll find out for sure.

It will be interesting to see where Roger stands on the war -- WWII vet and staunch conservative that he is.

Hmm, Peggy bats it outta the park by figuring out exactly what the client wants.

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I'm really not sure what we were supposed to take away from that, because Peggy was just parrotting Don's old lines, and doing exactly what the client wants has usually been presented by the show as a bad thing.

Personally, I thought Don's pitch was much more memorable. Peggy's was basically just "Heinz: We exist!".

So Don is against the war. I guess this is because of his experience in Korea. But back in the 60's, even vets were mostly for the war so this seems a bit unusual for Don. It also places him in bed (so to speak) with a gaggle of folk he would not like to be seen with publicly. The characeter has evolved at least in some areas, so perhaps this is a continuation of his journey.

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By January-February 1968 and the Tet Offensive majorities had firmed up the view that the decision to enter the war had been "a mistake."**it's a big part of the reason that LBJ didn't run for reelection that year.

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Well yeah, but I'm not sure we are being told that Don is against the war because of conclusions drawn after the Tet Offensive. ...

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You said it was "unusual" that someone like Don would be against the Vietnam War. However, as a matter of historical fact, by this point in the show's history a majority of Americans were against the war. As such, there's nothing "unusual" about Don's opinion, regardless of his reasons for holding it.

Right. When Chaough said something about slicing off a part of business for the small firms to fight over, he was referring to his firm as well as SCDP.

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Thanks for clearing that up guys. I was confused - I also thought Ted and Peggy got the account. Is Stan going to get in shit once it's found out he was the weak link? I never thought I'd see Ken angry at Don/Pete but he's right about the 'being known for loyalty' thing. They still have Jaguar and lots of other clients, so I don't think they'll be giving up the second floor anytime soon.

Actually, I predict there will be no return to the penny pinching days of the firm, I think the show is from now on going to explore the pitfalls of success and the misery of being unable to achieve true happiness. That's something Don certainly can't deal with.

Outstanding episode, the best of the new season by far. Glad the spousal cheating was at an all time low and finally some Joan storyline. I certainly hope she holds her own and doesn't end up leaving - I fear Harry's ultimatum may include buying out Joan's partnership from her. Harry's always been such an asshole to her. He's not a very nice person in general.

But I'm thrilled to see Peggy and Don are finally going to headbutt each other!! Don's good but she's better. But we know Don will do anything to win these things. Remember Life Cereal's "the cure for the common breakfast?" In a way, I kind of hope that the series ends with Peggy buying Don out of SCDP. I have no idea where she is going as a character but she's fascinating.

Don's pitch was more clever but not what they wanted... Peggy did seem to understand they wanted to see their bottle in the ad.

Don is such a professional taker. He takes everything including the spirit of his wife. He is absolutely going to break her this season and I wish that it could happen quickly like a band aid but it'll probably come slow. Thing is, I could actually see Don changing his mind about the swinging/wife swapping. Don may try and use that against her or something. However the swap turns out, if it happens or not, I'm sure it'll end with Megan's character being written off 'To Have and To Hold.' I wonder if that soap's title is meant to reflect on how Don sees Megan - a prize for him to keep but not enjoy, he's tired of her as he tires of things and aches for something new, again the Dr. Maye Miller quote, "you only like the beginning of things."

This season is going to be absolutely gut wrenching. Can't wait for Sunday!

Outstanding episode, the best of the new season by far. Glad the spousal cheating was at an all time low and finally some Joan storyline. I certainly hope she holds her own and doesn't end up leaving - I fear Harry's ultimatum may include buying out Joan's partnership from her. Harry's always been such an asshole to her. He's not a very nice person in general.

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I love Joan and have said before one of the tragedies of both the show and the era it is set in is that someone as smart and capable as she is gets thought of as "just a secretary" by virtue of an accident of birth.

That being said, Harry's got a legitimate point. In most partnership business models, the rainmakers get to be partners, not the administrators. It doesn't matter how competent you are managing things, male or female. You need to bring in business. Partners divide the income. Income is generated by bringing in and keeping clients.

Harry does that regularly. Joan did it once. While he certainly deserves scorn from the viewer for how he treated her over the script readings, under the standard partnership model, he deserved a partnership more than she did.